Why 2011 is the Year for Thinking Man’s Games

Action games have had their time. First person shooters are starting to stagnate. Gamers’ minds are craving more to tease and tantalise their intellects – luckily for them though, 2011 has them covered. We’re declaring 2011 to be the year of games for the thinking gamer. Why? Take a look at some of the below:

L.A. Noire

Oh Rockstar, you never let us down. If you’re not trailblazing with titles such as GTA and Red Dead, you’re cooking up something groundbreaking such as L.A. Noire. It should be out this year – Spring 2011 – we hope. And if it does drop down in the first quarter, we’ll be treated to a real crime thriller where we have to use our brains as detectives to solve some grizzly 1940s murders. We’re confident that Team Bondi are going to create something that really fries our noodles – Heavy Rain meets GTA? Let’s hope so…

LittleBigPlanet 2

The legacy left by Media Molecule’s is there for all to see. Custom levels aplenty all over YouTube and accessible for all to play – I must admit though, being a terrible dunce and lacking any kind of imagination at all meant that I had some difficulty in crafting something of any worth in the first LittleBigPlanet that wasn’t big, throbbing and utterly hilarious. That seems to have been addressed for schmucks like me though in the sequel, and with the ability to create actual games instead of levels, those of you with creative talent – as displayed by viggie42G in the below video – are going to be utterly spoiled for choice.

Patapon 3

Let’s give some love to the much-maligned PSP. What, there’s going to be a third Patapon?? It’s not too surprising if you haven’t heard – the second one, though improving on the first, went largely unnoticed which we don’t feel is exactly fair for such a wonderful brain-bending puzzler. Patapon has a knack of getting in behind your spine and kicking it until you get your tactics spot on. The third is likely to do the same, all to a generous, healthy rumba beat that gets you shaking those titties and wiggling that ass.

Portal 2

The return of GLaDOS. The first Portal split our skulls wide open, releasing all the moths trapped inside. But our brains needed a spring clean anyway – Portal was one of those games that gave you a satisfying burst of happiness after you’d completed it, beating everything that miserable machine-woman thing laid out in front of you. Portal 2 is no doubt going to torture us again and put us through the mill, especially if we have to go co-op and rely on our dumb-ass mates to help us out now and then. But what we’re really looking to is how the puzzles are going to make use of the new weapons. Tractor beams, lasers and a portal gun? Big ol’ brainy bliss points right there!

Minecraft

OK, so this is a bit of a cheat. I’m very well aware that Minecraft has been on the scene since 2009. But Minecraft has been something of a very slow burner – its fame and scope is only just starting to be realised thanks to the efforts of those who play it and its fantastic community. The church of Minecraft is starting to get notice thanks to YouTube virals and media plaudits. We predict a mainstream Minecraft explosion in 2011 and a fully-completed version. Minecraft is the ultimate thinking man’s game. Download it now, gogogo!